Ten Years
by Kylie Anderson
Summary: Ten years have passed. In a bizarre twist of fate, the lives of the former employees of the crime lab will be brought together again.


Ten Years

The Las Vegas crime lab is constantly changing. Ten years have passed. In a bizarre twist of fate, the lives of Catherine Willows, Gilbert Grissom, Greg Sanders, Sara Sidle, Nick Stokes, Warrick Brown and Jim Brass, all former employees of the crime lab, will be brought together again.

----

Grissom quit. One day, he was there and the next, he was gone. He said he was like a ghost and when he left, there wouldn't be any cake in the break room…he was right. It's so hard to believe it. He just left. He left his team in tatters. They were lost. It make them mad and sad, they lost a friend.

Catherine had taken control of the team. She's been with the lab for the past ten years and now is the dayshift supervisor now that Ecklie retired. Ecklie gave Catherine the swing shift ten years ago when she wanted to work days. Catherine ended up working nightshift and then when Grissom left, she became nightshift supervisor. Lindsay was in college by the time Catherine finally was a dayshift supervisor.

When Catherine left for days, Nick became supervisor. Warrick, Sara and Greg were now the nightshift team that Nick was a supervisor of.

One day, Sara never showed up for work. She left town with no notice. She would write letters, but not often. She never said why she left town.

Greg had become more and more successful as a crime scene investigator. He loved his job and he stayed with the nightshift.

Warrick also worked the nightshift. He and Tina were happily married until a few years later. Tina filed for divorce. Warrick was left with a shattered life.

Jim Brass turned in his badge. He went into a long and peaceful retirement. He still stops by the lab for a cup of coffee to chat up with his friends.

Ten years changed the lab. Most people wanted to deny it, but one night would change everything.

----

A young woman entered the crime lab. "Is Mr. Grissom here?" The woman asked.

"No, he quit almost ten years ago." The secretary answered.

"Oh silly me! I remember now. Is Ms. Catherine Willows here?" The woman asked.

"Yes," The secretary answered.

"May I see her?" The woman asked.

"May I ask why?" The secretary asked.

"Yes, tell her it's urgent and that it deals with a former coworker." The woman answered smoothly.

Within minutes, Catherine went out to see the woman. "Hello, my name is Catherine Willows, can I help you?" Catherine asked the woman.

"My name is Sara Sidle." Sara said shakily.

"Sara, why brings you here?" Catherine asked.

"It's been too long. I just wanted to tell someone why I left." Sara said.

"Okay," Catherine said.

"I left because of what happened to Nick. I was too afraid to move on. It had been like a year after what happened to him when I realized that I couldn't handle the stress and fear." Sara confessed.

"You gave it all away because of that?" Catherine asked.

"Yes," Sara said. "I also came to tell you that Grissom is in good health."

"How do you know?" Catherine asked.

"He called me. Apparently he wants to talk to all of us again. How is everyone?" Sara asked.

Catherine explained briefly. Grissom entered the lab all of a sudden. Catherine called Nick, Warrick and Greg. She also called Brass.

Once everyone was there, Grissom began. "I'm sorry I left ten years ago with no notice or anything. I…I left because I didn't think I was a good leader. What happened to Nick affected all of us. Warrick got married. I overreacted and left. As did Sara. It changed everything." Grissom said.

"I thought everything was better." Nick said quietly.

"No, Walter Gordon didn't act alone. He had an accomplice Nicky. There's someone out there going unpunished because I have no clues. I want to bring you justice, but I can't. I'm sorry I never told you, but you seemed better without knowing." Grissom said.

"Why did this happen?" Warrick asked. "Everything's all messed up."

"I want things to go back the way they were ten years ago." Greg said.

"It's not going to be the same. We're all…older. We're never going to be the same people." Brass said sighing.

"Why? On our jobs, we ask questions. We find answers to these questions. I've found almost all the answers except, why me? Why did this happen? Why do things have to be different? Why?" Nick asked desperately.

"Sometimes, we don't have answers." Grissom said deeply.

----

Catherine woke up. She checked the calendar. Luckily, it was still 2005. She called Grissom. He was still there. She called Sara. Sara was still there. She called Nick, Warrick and Greg. They were all mad at her for calling so late at night, but she was glad it was just a dream. It was just a simple dream. Nothing more, nothing less.

It also brought to her attention the reality of what happened to Nick. It affected all of them. Warrick got married. They became a team again.

In time, things would change. Right now, Catherine couldn't handle the change. Eventually, in ten years, she would probably see many changes in the lab, but that is in the future.

For now, she would enjoy the present.


End file.
